Re: Software feature set for automation

["Brett Griffin" <bret.griffin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Has the Sony 400 Disc player menu system gotten any better? I dumped it 2
years ago because of the lag time for browsing titles.  Once the system
starts to grab Pictures for each movie it got unbearably slow.  I sold it
and bought a Meedio HTPC.

--
Brett Griffin, Technology Consultant
Architechtronics, Inc.
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*Home of "fidoh" for HAI/OnQ/Aegis
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"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:UYKdnZxPrNEC2UHfRVn-iw@xxxxxxxxxx
> "E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> A week ago, I hurt my back and have just now been able to get off the
> couch,
>> yesterday.  That was the motivation I needed to finally start building my
>> "full" system.
>
> Yes!  When I was bed-confined for a few weeks I began to realize how much
> more useful HA could be.  Remote door locks, CCTV cameras, intelligent
> alarms, etc.  I don't think we're very far away from robotic companions
> for
> the elderly that are capable of monitoring the health of their owner and
> making decisions based on that information.  It's clear from the NYT link
> I
> posted the other day that people bond to things that  respond to them in
> human-like ways.  When a robot can go into the kitchen and bring back
> anything you select from the fridge, we will have arrived.
>
> The sorry truth is that whatever we're thinking about doing now is
> probably
> not enough.  Who would have thought there would be a WWW 20 years ago that
> could tie in video, alarms, telemetry and so much more from anywhere in
> the
> world for a small monthly fee?  In 2025 we'll all be encased in Robo-cop
> like titanium exoskeletons.  We'll need housewide microPEX tubing to feed
> nanobots to all the devices within the home. And there will be Cat 27 MPT
> and Cat 27E MPT arguments breaking out on the net about real-world nanobot
> throughput . . .
>
>> The things I want controlled:
>>
>> Security:  intrusion detection (motion and magnetic), door cams, door
>> intercoms accessible from a number of locations, and an electric door
> strike
>> or two.
>
> When I was stuck in bed, especially when I was alone in the house, I
> became
> keenly aware of every noise in the neighborhood.  I learned to hear the
> approach of the mailman when the windows were open thanks to a variety of
> neighborhood dogs.
>
>> Lighting:  Scene lighting in kitchen, master suite, living room, and
>> outside.  More basic control in guest room, office, and hallways etc.
>
> I agree that guest access areas need to be as simple, and that still seems
> to be:
>
> 1-click up for on
> 2-down for off
> 3-if it's round, twist it!
>
> What I've settled for is simple *everywhere* and the Wizard of Oz
> whizz-bang
> stuff by radio control NOT near the expected switch.    We tried
> sticka-switches and even the more expensive Leviton controllers and it all
> really failed the MIL spec test.  And that's not MIL for military, either!
> As bad as the old X-10 paddle wall switches were, even MIL could figure
> out
> you had to toggle it up and down to get it to turn on if it had been
> turned
> off remotely with the paddle up.  It's remarkable, in fact, how many more
> people can make sense of the paddle than the pushbutton.  I guess it's
> just
> naturally to flip it again if it didn't catch the first time.
>
>> Lighting must respond to rules:  "If it's dark, and the bedroom light is
>> off, when the bathroom light is turned on, ramp it up gently to 20%"
>
> I've begun to wonder about this part of HA.  Local actions should be
> consistent and virtually automatic.  I thought that neat Intermatic timer
> mentioned here recently really drove home the point that simpler may
> indeed
> be better.
>
> Compare the house to a biological "housing unit" like a human and it seems
> the basic functions are hardwired at a primitive level in us and almost
> all
> animals.  If we had to think much about blinking, we would all be blind.
>
> Anyway, if there was a PIR wallswitch available that ramped at night and
> didn't during the day, that's probably a better solution than involving
> the
> house's higher brain functions and communication channels.
>
> Would it be intolerable if it always ramped?  I think a plain old 2-way
> X-10
> lamp module will do this without needing to poll a central controller.  I
> only offer this because anything that operates more slowly than "almost
> instantaneously" is perceived by the end users as "too slow."  When I
> changed the PIR to operate through the CPU-XA based on rules, it slowed
> down
> just enough so that users would hit the wall switch almost at the same
> moment the motion triggered on command was coming down.  I probably could
> have sped things up had I spent time trying to debug the problem, but I
> went
> back to the direct control of an X-10 light through a Hawkeye and it's
> been
> quite workable.  I only wish it would turn OFF the light when the occupant
> left the bathroom.
>
>> AV: Control projector, 100 disc DVD Changer,
>
> Get the Sony 400 disc player.  Modulate the video output to an unused
> cable
> channel, get some remote IR gear like powermids and you can relay commands
> back to the changer from anywhere in the house and see the results
> displayed
> on a local TV.  Plays MP3's and SA-CD's, too, and you can input title
> information from a PC keyboard.  $400 or less.  Since it takes 5 minutes
> to
> burn MP3's to a CD, I gave up on using a PC as a media center.
>
>> MP3s, etc. Provide ability to distribute any media to any media
>> center. System must be able to learn IR codes (roomba, fans,
>> other gadgets).
>>
>> User Interface:  8" touchscreens in kitchen cabinet, and on each side of
>> master bed. PDA-sized touchscreens in light switch locations in guest
> rooms,
>> office, living room, etc.  Touch screens should be able to display media
>> (TV, MP3s, news feeds, door cams) as well as be able to access lighting
>> control and arm/disarm the security system.
>
> Is there a woman in your life?  There might not be if you implement this
> plan without her *significant* input. :-)
>
>> So that's sortof my hardware listing.
>
> <stuff snipped>
>
> I'll respond to the SW issue separately.  Implementation issues await.
> That's the real problem with HA.  It really doesn't work well unless you
> understand *some* sort of programming logic.  Believe it or not, in the
> US,
> the Bond film "Licence to Kill" had to be renamed from "Licence Revoked"
> because a survey showed that more than half the respondents didn't know
> what
> the word "revoked" meant.  Do you think those folks are going to know a
> "while loop" from a pile of hoops?  Nyet!  So, HA's gotta really evolve to
> a
> "plug and play" state to become a "crossover" hit.
>
> There are some efforts underway to achieve that.  It's much easier to
> control an iron that's got $1 worth of on-board smarts remotely than it is
> to control that same iron with $100 worth of aftermarket temperature,
> status
> and current sensors.  When SW can rope all of these appliances into a
> house-wide mesh network and generate a "default program" based on simple
> end-user questionnaire configuration screens, HA will take off.
>
> Fortunately, we see the seeds of such built-in capability sown all around
> us.  The chip prices are falling, the standards are pretty well
> established
> and the manufacturers will fall all over themselves to add it once a
> certain
> critical mass has been reached.
>
> What I want are nanobotic alarm installers that can swarm over the house,
> analyze all entry points and then install the appropriate hardware and
> cabling to protect it.  When they finish, they write up a report, I round
> them up in a can and send them off to their next job.
>
> --
> Bobby G.
>
>
>